Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson (born 5 April 1989 in Esher, England), better known as Lily James, is an English actress and singer.
James frequently plays fresh-faced young women in period or period-like pieces, such as Lady Rose MacClare in the period drama Downton Abbey, the titular heroine in the 2015 Disney remake Cinderella (2015), and Natasha Rostova in War and Peace (2016).
Works she has appeared in include:
- Just William (2010) as Ethel Brown
- Secret Diary of a Call Girl (2010) as Poppy
- Wrath of the Titans (2012) as Korrina
- Fast Girls (2012) as Lisa Temple
- Downton Abbey (2012 — 2014) as Lady Rose MacClare
- Cinderella (2015) as Ella / "Cinderella"
- Burnt (2015) as Sara
- War and Peace (2016) as Natasha Rostova
- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016) as Elizabeth Bennet
- The Exception (2016) as Mieke de Jong
- Baby Driver (2017) as Debora
- Darkest Hour (2017) as Elizabeth Layton
- Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again (2018) as young Donna Sheridan
- Sorry to Bother You (2018) as Detroit's "white voice"
- The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (2018) as Juliet Ashton
- Little Woods (2018) as Deb Hale
- Yesterday (2019) as Ellie
- Rebecca (2020) as the second Mrs de Winter
- The Dig (2021) as Peggy Piggott
- Pam & Tommy (2022) as Pamela Anderson
- What's Love Got to Do with It? (2022) (2022) as Zoe
- The Iron Claw (2023) as Pam Adkisson
Tropes featured in her work:
- Action Girl: In Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Wrath of the Titans and The Exception.
- Casting Gag: In Downton Abbey, she plays an aristocrat and Sophie McShera plays the kitchen maid Daisy. In Cinderella (2015) it's the opposite where Lily plays Cinderella, and Sophie is the aristocrat.
- Creator Backlash: She didn't like having to wear the 1920s costumes for Downton Abbey, though she admits she warmed to them eventually.
- Dyeing for Your Art:
- Naturally brunette but became blonde for Cinderella. She just wore a blonde wig for Downton. James has also went blonde in Fast Girls and Baby Driver.
- Taken up to eleven for Pam & Tommy where she wears a prosthetic forehead and eyebrows, dentures and a blonde wig to transform into Pamela Anderson.
- Fake American: She donned a Southern accent for Baby Driver as well as a standard American accent in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again and Little Woods.
- Fake Nationality:
- Borderline in War and Peace (2016), as a Russian girl. She however keeps her normal voice.
- She played the Dutch Jewish Mieke de Jong in The Exception. Unlike the War and Peace example, James puts on a foreign accent to portray Mieke.
- She also played the Canadian-American Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy.
- Ms. Fanservice:
- She appeared nude in Secret Diary of a Call Girl and The Exception.
- Her role as Pamela Anderson in Pam & Tommy also features her nude and in a lot of revealing outfits.
- Nice Girl: Many of her roles so far have had her playing charming, friendly, and kindhearted characters, and she comes off as one in interviews.
- Period Drama: Like her fellow English actress Keira Knightley, she has appeared in many whether it is television or cinema, or mixing Fantasy (Cinderella) and Horror (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again is this too - as it takes place in Donna's youth.
- Playing Against Type: She's known for plucky period piece heroines, but occasionally goes against this grain.
- Baby Driver marks her first major role that's not a period piece or Costume Drama.
- She's cast way against type as Pamela Anderson, a sultry Playboy model known for her tumultuous personal life, in Pam & Tommy. The show is specifically about the history of the sex tape involving her and Tommy Lee.
- Playing with Character Type: She plays Lizzie Bennett as a zombie hunter.
- Promoted Fangirl: Describes herself as a huge Disney fan, and was ecstatic at getting to play a Disney Princess.
- Romance on the Set: She and Matt Smith started dating while in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Amusingly enough, Smith was playing none other than Mr. Collins to Lily's Elizabeth Bennet!
- Star-Making Role: While she did have people talking about her stage work and Downton Abbey, it was Cinderella that properly put her on the map.
- Those Two Actors:
- Much publicity was made of her and Richard Madden playing lovers first in Cinderella, then in Romeo and Juliet.
- She's also twice acted closely with Tessa Thompson, first voicing over Thompson's character in Sorry to Bother You then playing her half-sister in Little Woods.
- Time-Shifted Actor: She plays the younger version of Meryl Streep's character in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.
- Typecasting: Usually as an English Rose or The Ingenue in a Period Piece Costume Drama.